Seems that the Chinese government was motivated to arrest some polluters after they (and other factories) dumped toxic cadmium in a river. It appears that the government is getting the message that if they don't take action against polluters, the public will take action against THEM.

"China has detained seven company executives after suspected industrial
waste discharges polluted a river with toxic cadmium, threatening
drinking supplies for millions, state media said Tuesday.

The discharges have contaminated a 100-kilometre (60-mile) stretch of
the Longjiang River in the southern region of Guangxi, sparking panic
buying of bottled water in nearby cities, the official China Daily
reported.

Jinhe Mining Co. has been blamed for dumping cadmium -- a carcinogen
which can seriously damage the kidneys, bones and respiratory system --
into the river, in a spill that was discovered on January 15. But the government has decided to widen the crackdown to go after other
polluters, inspecting more than a dozen factories on the river and
stopping production at seven plants.

Feng Zhennian, a local environment official, told reporters that seven
executives from companies deemed responsible for polluting the river had
been taken into custody, the state-run Xinhua news agency said late
Monday."

Unfortunately for the polluters, the likeliest outcome in this situation for them, whether we like it or not, is execution. That's a little harsh in my book, but maybe not in the eyes of the people who want some action.

Monday, January 30, 2012

I really like "Royal Pains", but one of the reasons to like it is Jill Flint (who plays Jill Casey), and they're really underutilizing her. There should be more angst and more airtime in the Hank/Jill relationship. And there aren't enough hot pictures of her online.

Plus, whatever happened to Campbell Scott (Boris)? Has his new baby and life-threatening genetic unexplained illness been forgotten? Or is just taking it easy in Cuba?

Sunday, January 29, 2012

OK, I'm disappointed for Maria Sharapova - again. Another 1st-timer denies her the completeness of the comeback. So now we'll have to see if the mercurial Serena Williams re-establishes her dominance again, or if the next few singles Slams for the women are a game of musical chairs, where about the only good predication I could make is that the last name of the winner will likely end in -a, probably -ova.

But my God, the Murray-Djokovic semi and the Nadal-Djokovic final were tennis for the ages. And both times Novak started down the barrel of defeat and refused to wilt. EVEN though I'm still pulling for Andy Murray to breakthrough the Big 3 and get his first one (Wimbledon would be the best, even if Scotland is making noises about exiting the U.K.), Djokovic was truly amazing to come out on top of both those amazing matches. Wow.

OK, so it's just cadmium, an extremely toxic metal. But this is another example of the dangers of the Chinese industrial complex running amok with little environmental regulation, sparking panic and fear in the public.

Thank the Lord that couldn't happen in the United States, because we've got the EPA looking out for us, with the force of LAW backing them up.

"Authorities found waste discharged into the Longjiang river by the Jinhe Mining Co caused excessive levels of cadmium some three times the government's accepted limit, the official Xinhua news agency said."

but no problem because

"However, Liuzhou officials said water quality in the area was "safe". Over the past week, firefighters had dumped chemicals aimed at neutralising the cadmium into the river.

According to the World Health Organization cadmium is a carcinogen which can seriously damage the kidneys, bones and respiratory system. It has several industrial applications, ranging from steel to batteries.

Three decades of rapid economic growth and lax enforcement of environmental protection laws have caused most waterways in China to be heavily contaminated with toxic waste from factories and farms."

No, OBVIOUSLY we wouldn't want to change the environmental protection laws in the U.S.

Claude Allegre, former director of the Institute for the Study of
the Earth, University of Paris; J. Scott Armstrong, cofounder of the
Journal of Forecasting and the International Journal of Forecasting; Jan
Breslow, head of the Laboratory of Biochemical Genetics and Metabolism,
Rockefeller University; Roger Cohen, fellow, American Physical Society;
Edward David, member, National Academy of Engineering and National
Academy of Sciences; William Happer, professor of physics, Princeton;
Michael Kelly, professor of technology, University of Cambridge, U.K.;
William Kininmonth, former head of climate research at the Australian
Bureau of Meteorology; Richard Lindzen, professor of atmospheric
sciences, MIT; James McGrath, professor of chemistry, Virginia Technical
University; Rodney Nichols, former president and CEO of the New York
Academy of Sciences; Burt Rutan, aerospace engineer, designer of Voyager
and SpaceShipOne; Harrison H. Schmitt, Apollo 17 astronaut and former
U.S. senator; Nir Shaviv, professor of astrophysics, Hebrew University,
Jerusalem; Henk Tennekes, former director, Royal Dutch Meteorological
Service; Antonio Zichichi, president of the World Federation of
Scientists, Geneva.

Richard Lindzen is a well-known U.S. skeptic who has had numerous papers refuted; Harrison Schmitt has forgotten the geoscience he learned at Harvard and is a sell-out to oil and gas industries; Will Happer has published stuff that has been blasted as heavily erroneous; Burt Rutan is totally not a scientist; and all these guys have been over-utilized again and again by the skeptical side to try and lend false legitimacy to pseudoscience. I think daily for the next two weeks I'll post links about each of them.

Britsh TV Host, actress, and Britain's Got Talent judge Amanda Holden had second baby (following a stillbirth), and almost lost her life due to heavy hemorrhaging. Fortunately, the medical staff was able to pull her through, and now she and her husband can just simply be new parents.

Thursday, January 26, 2012

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration demonstrates that El Niño years are warm years, and La Niña years are cold years, and both of them are getting warmer. Like 2011 was, the warmest La Niña year ever.

OK, I thought it was over for Maria when Kvitova broke her in the third game of the
third set. But she's a battler -- and after I turned it off in the early morning hours
of Thursday, Sharapova broke right back, and finished it off by breaking Kvitova in
the final game to take the match. She didn't play great, and will probably need to
play better to beat Azarenka in the final.

Beyond her looks, which are obviously appealing (see below) I'm following Maria
because she's a comeback story. She could have just packed it in when the shoulder injury
happened, and relied on her looks to get her through the rest of her life
comfortably. But she didn't. She rehabbed, altered her serve, and got back into
top-rank tennis shape -- WHICH ISN'T EASY. Her comeback is already a success,
but to truly be complete, to have her not perceived as a short-lived phenom with
three Grand Slam titles, she needs at least one more. Kvitova surprised her
at Wimbledon, I think -- I hope she's ready for a hungry-for-my-first-one
Azarenka. Just like Agassi who fought back from injury and came back and won
Slams (including eventually the French, in a come-from-behind win in the final),
comeback stories are admirable.

Now, there may be plenty of comeback stories
we don't hear about if the players don't win a championship -- and those are
admirable too -- but in the case of both Agassi and Sharapova, they could have
quit and rested on their accomplishments to that date, and called it a career,
and NOT put in the time and effort and sweat equity required to get back to the
top. To their credit, they did.

About her looks. I was watching the match and how she prepares for each
point, with her back to the court. This allows a full appreciation of her
most femininely appealing rump, in a short tennis skirt. And it is VERY
appealing.
So I did a little searching and found a couple
other pictures that are indicative of her bottom beauty. (Due to running and
overall fitness, many female athletes have attractive derrieres. Is it any
surprise that the long and leggy Maria has one too? I certainly hope not.)

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

I knew that I'd seen the lead guest actress on 'Castle', but she looked so much different from her "One Tree Hill" character, I had to go to IMdB to figure out who it was. Hilarie Burton with long, brunette-highlighted hair.

If there is a glimmer of hope for overfishing, it's the realization of how badly the barbaric practice of shark finning hurts both shark populations and the ocean environment. For whatever reason, Asian people are no longer enamored of shark fin soup. Praise the Deity!

Monday, January 23, 2012

In some places, there's lots of seaweed. Add a few of the right nutrients to the right areas, add sunlight, and the stuff grows like the proverbial weed. So if seaweed could turn into a biofuel crop, that could be a wedge in the battle against the CO2 dilemma.

So now we've got news of a bacterium that can digest seaweed and turn it directly into ethanol. That is a potential gamebreaker.

"When the team fed alginate to their engineered E. coli, the microbes pumped out ethanol, the researchers report in the Jan. 20 Science.
The system yields 80 percent of the theoretical maximum amount of
ethanol for a given amount of biomass, the scientists noted, and with
further tweaking will probably be even more efficient."

Stunner.

Add more widespread deployment of nuclear power for domestic and industrial energy use, and then we might have something workable.

Maria Sharapova waxed Sabine Lisicki at the Australian (tennis) Open, moving her at least to another match on Wednesday against unseeded Makarova (who's got some thunder, becuz she beat Serena Williams). So I thought that I'd be able to watch her play again, as well as Caroline Wozniacki. I didn't count on the skill and competitiveness of a slightly gimpy Kim Clijsters. Darn. I really like watching Wozniacki ... play. And about the only chance I get is during majors, and she hasn't got one yet.

If the seeds go as seeded, then we'll have a Wimbledon rematch on tap in the semis. I'd stay up for THAT.

John Boehner's spineless wimpishness in the face of the childish behavior of the Tea Party caucus has been at turn nauseating, other times repugnant. But still, for most of the time, I felt that he was a dedicated public servant in a very tough place. Some of his public pronouncements made me upset, and at other times it was obvious that he was lying, but I still felt that it was the perils of the position he inherited. I still thought he respected the position he was in.

I no longer do. His disrespectful parody of the State of the Union address, an important public occasion, pushed me over the edge. He's a friggin' jerk. Though I don't know him personally, I don't need to. I detest the man.

Boehner said it sounds to him like "the same old policies" of more spending, taxes and regulations that have hurt the economy.

The Ohio Republican told "Fox News Sunday" that if that's what Obama is going to talk about, then "I think it's pathetic."

In the interview, Boehner also hinted that he may link the approval of the Keystone XL pipeline to the payroll
tax cut extension. "Every option is on the table. We are going to do
everything we can to try to make sure that this Keystone pipeline is, in
fact, approved," he said. When pressed by Chris Wallace on whether he
would "link" the pipeline to the payroll tax cut, he replied, "We may.
But as I said, all options are on the table."

"But Sunday morning, from coast to coast, Republican candidates for Congress, governorships and other offices awakened to a sobering thought: They could be running next autumn with Gingrich — whose current approval rating nationally in a Jan. 12-14 Fox News and Opinion Dynamics poll was 27 percent favorable, 56 percent unfavorable — atop the ticket."

Hard to think of a better reason to support Gingrich for the Republican nomination for President, isn't it? Thanks, George Will.

Saturday, January 21, 2012

Every now and then the Cassini spacecraft that's touring the Saturnian system finds a really unique perspective for an image. This latest example is from the close flyby of Dione (the moon in front). Other moons and rings are beyond Dione. Shots like this keep bringing back to me that this place is REAL.

We certainly don't agree on climate, but I was saddened to find out that climate change skeptic extraordinaire Marc P. Morano's father died recently. He was a prominent lawyer and a World War II vet, who received the Purple Heart for action in the Battle of the Bulge.

Here's the full obituary:

Carl J. Morano, 87, a Washington lawyer who specialized in criminal cases and traffic cases, died Nov. 20 at Avalon House, an assisted-living facility in McLean.

He had Parkinson’s disease, his son Thomas J. Morano said.

Mr. Morano had a solo law practice in Washington for 50 years before retiring in 2004.

Carl Joseph Morano was born in Scranton, Pa. He served in the Army during World War II and participated in the Battle of the Bulge in Europe. He received the Purple Heart.

He graduated in 1951 from Catholic University law school.

He was a member of the Knights of Columbus and the American Legion. He was a McLean resident until moving to Avalon House two months before his death.

Survivors include his wife of 54 years, Leonore Leone Morano of McLean; six children, Carl Morano of Belleville, N.J., Thomas J. Morano of McLean, Laura Jones of Vienna, William Morano of Sterling, Lisa Weber of Harpers Ferry, W.Va., and Marc P. Morano of Manassas; and nine grandchildren.

Thursday, January 19, 2012

The following links to a 1:01 video about the top 10 females that men would like to cheat with, if they had the crazy chance to do so. Katy Perry was #1, and #10 was --- Sarah Palin? They asked 25,000 men, supposedly, and obviously they didn't ask enough liberal Democrats.

Okay dokay, I was wrong-ay about Rick Perry. I thought given the Tea Party momentum that Governor Good Hair was a rock solid lock for the GOP Presidential nomination. Thank God and Tebow that I was wrong. He dropped out of the race and endorsed Newt Gingrich. Which leads me to the two tweets that I'm going to tweet tomorrow, but here's a preview:

Now, there is one clear scenario that's still possible. If (and probably when) Romney gets the nomination, he's going to need a Vice Presidential candidate on the ticket. Caveman Governor Bob McDonnell of Virginia has been suggested, and he's got the definitive right wing and evangelical credentials (even a link to Pat Roberts). Not a bad choice, and he hasn't been seen looking like a fool in recent debates, either. But Rick Perry also has those credentials. Having Perry provides the ticket with heavy right wing weight, as well as potentially reassuring the evangelical Christians who I know are going to still have a hard time voting for the heretical Mormon Presidential candidate. So maybe they will think that with a professing Christian as a VP, there'd at least be a chance for a conversion. And of course God could then take a hand in matters, as has happened before for Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley, and Kennedy. And in Texas a lot of those guys can hit what they aim at. Oh yeah, didn't Perry have a hunting ranch?

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

The Chinese government has released a new report indicating that they are starting to get the threat that climate change poses to their populace -- not to mention their own internal stability. Because if the people are getting sick from pollution and aren't getting fed due to pollution, they're going to blame someone. And if they end up blaming the government that encouraged all the businesses that generated all the pollution, then that government is going to be in TROUBLE.

Water, either too much or too little, lies at the heart of how that warming could trip up China's budding prosperity.

"Climate
change will lead to severe imbalances in China's water resources within
each year and across the years. In most areas, precipitation will be
increasingly concentrated in the summer and autumn rainy seasons, and
floods and droughts will become increasingly frequent," says the report.

"Without
effective measures in response, by the latter part of the 21st century,
climate change could still constitute a threat to our country's food
security," it says.

That's why, I think, that the window is budging open regarding getting China (and hopefully India) to sign on to real climate change action. And that action can begin real soon:

Make Fuel and Vehicle Standards More Stringent

Many
cars around the world, but especially in Africa and Asia, lack particle
filters or access to clean burning fuels. Shindell’s team calculated
that upgrading the world’s fleet to comply with current European
standards would reduce black carbon emissions by 18 percent.

Compost Biodegradable Garbage

If
we universally separated out compostable material from landfills, the
amount of methane produced by them—currently about 22 percent of all
human sources of methane—would be reduced. (And though they don't say it, you could also use this stuff as a biofuel feedstock.)

Ashley Greene, about whom I have opined is one of the most beautiful actresses we've been blessed with in a long time, is representing DKNY's spring collection. The results are outstanding. First link has a short video that's worth a watch or two.

Sunday, January 15, 2012

@NatGeoChannel National Geographic
Just announced: Wicked Tuna coming this Spring - high stakes bluefin tuna fishing, inspired by the characters of The Perfect Storm #tca12

Here's my original note of comment:
Tuna fishing should not be presented as anything other than leading to extinction. It should not be glorified and those that do it, even though I know they are hard-working men and women, should not be made into celebrities or heroes.

But still I didn't get it. The NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC channel? From a magazine that has brought us stunning documentation of the splendors of the eroding natural world and nature treasures of the world? A magazine that glorified naturalists protecting endangered species?

It seems almost like the scenario of a post-apocalyptic surrealist satire, unimaginable just a few years back: National Geographic Channel has been bought out by Fox, is "joint-venturing" with the disgraceful and disgraced Rupert Murdoch, and creating programmes to push Bull O'Reilly's tomes. And, well -- National Geographic Channel will be killing endangered species for entertainment.

They've just announced the new unscripted show: Wicked Tuna.

The first word that comes to mind is: boycott. And I will be writing in. Indignantly.

Friday, January 13, 2012

The Confederate submarine Hunley has finally been put on full view after years of preservation efforts. It's a pretty amazing recovery for a sub that was found buried in the sediments of Charleston Harbor with only a little bit of its top hatch sticking out.

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

"People will readily tell you what they value in a romantic partner,"
study researcher Eli Finkel, of Northwestern University, said in a
statement. "But study after study shows that those preferences don't
predict whom daters are actually attracted to
when they meet flesh-and-blood partners. Now we can get under the hood
with this quirky methodology to see what people actually prefer in
live-interaction settings."

It all hearkens back to mate choices and fertility. Good-looking should mean good genes, and that's what our unconscious selves REALLY want, a mate that will produce hearty and healthy offspring. And all the indicators of fecundity and fertility rate high on the attractiveness scale.

"But senators heard testimony from state utility authorities who said part of the problem is that energy is currently so inexpensive to produce in Texas that there is little incentive to improve infrastructure and make energy generation more efficient to guard against shortfalls sparked by water shortages.

Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, said the continued lack of rainfall poses serious concerns "about the ability to keep the lights on" in the short term and that things will only get more complicated in the future. He said Texas should have a contingency plan for coping with future energy needs similar to the $16 million it spends on a long-term water plan it produces every five years."

A clear example of how the infrastructure of civilization is intimately interconnected with climate.

Now, since Governor Rick Perry thinks that climate change is all a scam cooked up by scientists who want to get research grant money, he probably won't propose to do a thing about this.

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

"In Washington, Congress is under mounting pressure to do something about the pesky federal debt, which continues to mount as a result of the fact that the government continues to spend insanely more money than it actually has. Congress, after carefully weighing its three options — stop spending so much money; get some more money somehow; or implement some combination of options one and two — decides to go with option four: continue to do nothing while engaging in relentlessly hyperpartisan gasbaggery. Incredibly, this does not solve the debt problem."

"Standard & Poor’s makes good on its threat to downgrade the U.S. credit rating, noting that the federal government, in making fiscal decisions, is exhibiting “the IQ of a turnip.”

"Meanwhile on the Republican side, Herman Cain surges to the top of the pile with his “9-9-9” plan, which combines the quality of being easy to remember with the quality of being something that nobody thinks will ever actually happen. Seeking to regain momentum, Rick Perry also comes out with a tax plan, but he can remember only the first two nines. Adding spice to the mix, Mitt Romney unexpectedly exhibits a lifelike facial expression but is quickly subdued by his advisers."

"Meanwhile, in a vindication for the Department of Homeland Security, alert passengers aboard a United Airlines flight foil an apparent terrorist attack when they subdue a man attempting to deep-fry a turkey in economy class. After the plane makes an emergency landing, the man is removed by federal agents, who confirm that he was carrying not only cranberry sauce, but “enough stuffing to choke a buffalo.”

So there's a few of them. North America (by virtue of Yellowstone) has a lot more geysers, but Africa has two active lava lakes, and right now a fire-fountaining cone, and if you count the Red Sea, a Surtsey-type marine eruption. And occasional massive outbreaks of lava.

With the money in the bank, Jemison's group, the Houston-based Dorothy Jemison Foundation for Excellence, now has to take on the challenge of building a programme that can last 100 years which hopefully will result in a starship.

I saw this, and without reading it, remembered several of the "gen-ship" stories that I'd read about in science fiction. The vast output of global resources that would be required is beyond comprehension. However, if the human race commits to launching a lifeboat that would allow potential survival to extend beyond this ravaged planet, then it makes sense to start planning. A 100-year timeline seems reasonable. I'm just not sure what shape the human race and the planet will be in 100 years from now.

Well, now the next step is to do a 100% complete census of the entire tortoise population, to see if the putative survivors really do exist on the island. That will be one heck of an effort. I hear Earthwatch calling. Still, this is one of those rare opportunities to rediscover a supposedly extinct species -- and possibly save them from extinction. Maybe, just maybe.

Sunday, January 8, 2012

In a Manchester showdown in the FA Cup, Manchester United won 3-2 with two goals from Wayne Rooney, a red card that might not have been deserved on Man City, and a close call in stoppage time on a great free kick from Aleksandar Kolarov. Good stuff.

Mount Etna in Sicily had a pretty spectacular short eruption a couple of days ago. In addition to the fairly routine (but beautiful and fascinating) lava fountains, Etna also launched a few small pyroclastic flows, which is not something it's noted for. They may have occurred partly due to interaction with newfallen snow. Whatever the cause, it was quite a display.

Saturday, January 7, 2012

The first season of 'Shameless' was pretty amazing and surprising. The trailer for the 2nd season makes it looks like it's going to be more of the same crazy ride. And one reason to watch is the all-out performance by the delectable Emmy Rossum, who in the role manages to be both hot and disturbing -- and that's tough to do.

Friday, January 6, 2012

OK, let's face it, when it comes to getting, bedding, and occasionally keeping extremely good-looking babes, singers are probably the top-notch babegetters, even ahead of international soccer stars and National Basketball Association players. (Many star athletes get star babes, we know). But there does seem to be somewhat of a difference between the singers and the athletes -- athletes tend to be (though not always) fit, which is a plus in the looks department, and that would seem to generate some sex appeal
for the ladies. Many athletes are also reasonably good-looking men. Combine that with reasonable earning potential (and sometimes unreasonable), and the frequency with which good-looking babes attend sporting events, this helps to explain the success rate for athletes.

But singers are another breed entirely. They not only have babes attending their events, they frequently have them swooning in the aisles or tossing their undies on the stage. Add to that a projected (explicitly or implicitly) romantic attractiveness, and the women just seem to line up to lie down for them. And looks can be very secondary, though it doesn't hurt to be a good-looking man to get a hot babe. You just don't have to necessarily be handsome if you've got the pipes and the hips.

There's no way I could make a comprehensive list, so just a few examples here.

Now, to this list, we add Michael Bublé. He may even have set a new standard. While not unattractive, he's 36 and a bit chunky (even more so recently). That didn't stop him from getting married to the absolutely lusciously stunning Luisana Lopilato, 24, who has the added feature of being Latina
Argentinian. Lopilato is an actress and singer in her own right, and just recently added the title "Lead Underwear Model for Ultimo" to her resume.

She has a wondrous front and a perfect derriere (though I can't find as many examples of the derriere as I would like).

And she's pretty, and smiles great, and ... well ... she's as hot as they come.

I don't know how long it will last for Bublé and Lopilato -- one always hopes for permanence in these relationships -- but it sure would be fun to tag along on their ride. If you know what I mean.

The rest of this is mostly going to be about Luisana Lopilato. I mean, there are shapes...

and then there are SHAPES.

The aforementioned derriere

Pre-Buble, about 20 years old.

Now, Luisana has never posed completely nude, and now that she's married, there's less of a chance of that. Unfortunately. Still, one could hope for a deal that she couldn't refuse. However, her singing hubby is likely making unreasonable amounts of money, so there's little reason that she'd have to consider a deal she couldn't refuse. Being such as it is, therefore we can just contemplate her in the glory of lingerie, and think about the glory of the lack of it.

The best video of Luisana modeling lingerie. Kinda makes me wish I could sing.

Ultimo Christmas lingerie video. And the bonus is that you get to see her on a bed. Not nude on a bed, but still, she's on a bed. There's a better (less grainy) version at Ultimo here.

I also note that Bublé has recently mentioned that he would like to start a family (though he'll wait until his wife is ready). This is code for the fact that the honeymoon/newlywed frequency of lovemaking has started to slow down, and for Bublé to keep the frequency up, and to have a chance to see and experience his wife Luisana Lopilato nude as much as possible, there has to be a reason to have a scheduled frequency. So, if I was in his shoes, I'd probably make the same points.

I think the best-case scenario would be a Supreme Court ruling in favor of the Prez (and I think that's the likely outcome) prior to the elections. It would a major slap in the face to the Republicans who are seeking to block the ability of the President to conduct the basic functions of the office via procedural subterfuge. However, I expect that the ruling would actually come after the elections, because the conservatives on the SCOTUS wouldn't want to give the Prez this kind of victory.

Representing the "blatant abuse of power" side, we have (unsurprisingly) the Wall Street Journal, Investors Business Daily, and former Reagan attorney general Ed Meese (from the Heritage Foundation, naturally):
Obama’s recess appointments are unconstitutional

Representing the "Senate is blocking Obama's right to appoint people to run the country" side, we have the Huffington Post's Adam Levin, the New York Times with Harvard's Lawrence Tribe, and The New Republic's Jonathan Cohn.

Games and Gimmicks in the Senate
"In this case, the administration’s focus on the gimmicky nature of pro forma sessions is best understood as one among several factors that combine to present unconstitutional interference with the president’s irreducible power and duty." Seems much more reasonable to me.

"The administration goes on to point out that Obama did not use the recess appointment power to fill every vacancy. He did so only for the new consumer board and the NLRB because, without the appointments, those particular agencies simply could not operate. Here’s what White House Counsel Kathy Ruemmler said:

"These appointees were necessary for these government agencies to function. The agencies were created to enforce duly passed laws, the Dodd-Frank Act and the National Labor Relations Act. The president has a constitutional obligation to enforce the laws and to make sure that personnel necessary to enforce the laws are in place. That's the whole point of the recess appointment clause, to make it possible for the president to do that."

"China has the world's largest online population, with around half a billion web users, posing a growing challenge to authorities in a country that tightly controls its media.

..............

But the state-run China Daily has said that if PM2.5 were used as China's main standard, only 20 percent of Chinese cities would be rated as having satisfactory air quality, against the current 80 percent."

Thursday, January 5, 2012

"[George W. Bush presidential legal counsel] Bradbury sharply denounced the [pro forma] sessions as “phony,” arguing: “They serve but one purpose: to prevent the president from exercising his constitutional authority to make recess appointments.” He urged the President to call the Senate’s bluff in order to avoid more “gridlock.”

While this shows that Senate Dems also used the “pro forma” tactic, it also allows the White House to argue that even Bush’s lawyers see it as a sham and agree that Obama has the power to make such appointments."

This could be real interesting, both as a campaign issue to show that the Republicans have been blocking Obama just for the sake of blocking (and not doing that which is good for the country due to their intentions to block whatever he's doing), and also as an issue of historical significance. Question: if Congress does something to subvert the rights of the President to perform his designated duties, does the President have the right to perform his duties, even if in so doing he apparently breaks a Constitutional prohibition?

Yeah, the Supreme Court opinjins on this one could have bona fide entertainment value.

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

"To not take climate change seriously, you must somehow believe there is a gigantic international conspiracy involving the world's top scientists, all of whom have agreed to distort their data. Come on. I realize that people on both sides of the political spectrum can twist themselves into pretzels to reach an ideological result, but that's way beyond improbable. I believe that scientists, as they have down through history, are basing their conclusions on unbiased scientific inquiry."

But that's the thing. Impossible/improbable though it is, skeptics and deniers DO think that it's all a conspiracy to spread socialism throughout the world. As if, given the way things are going right now, that would actually be bad. Oh, I know, socialism stifles the competitive urges that give capitalism its impetus. Well, look what's that gotten us into. Maybe a dose of "we're all in this together" rather than the current "Every man for himself, and he who dies with the most gold wins" that seems to be the Republican raison d'etre, and we could make the world a better place.

OK, first I ask how many couples both have names with a "k" in them? and then I congratulate the Jete on his perceptivity in getting back together with Minka, who is an absolute hard A-list 10. Even if they're are lots of fish in the sea, Derek, very few of them rate as high as this catch.

I just found this site, where you can zoom in to boulder resolution on
the surface of the Moon. It's almost like being there! Currently on
page 6 is a view of the Apollo 17 landing site, entitled "Skimming the
Moon".Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera - Browse Gallery

"The $14.8 billion project marks the first new commercial power reactors
to be built in the United States in a generation, and is unfolding in
the wake of the Fukushima disaster in Japan that raised new questions
about nuclear safety and construction standards."

and

"The Vogtle project also heralds the American debut of the
Westinghouse AP1000 reactor, a new design that features a cooling
reservoir above the reactor vessel that can be fed into the unit by
gravity in the event of an emergency. Because other proposed nuclear expansions in the U.S. will use the
same design, the Vogtle project has been designated as the NRC’s
official “reference site” for future AP1000 construction."

In a previous post I mentioned that reality show starlet (?) from Britain Amy Childs is a model for Ultimo lingerie, and possesses the requisite mammarian attributes to represent them quite attractively. Well, if you want to know pretty much all you need to know about Amy Childs, here it is:

In a couple of these pictures she has a slight Brittany Murphy resemblance.

Oh, and she also has a 2012 calendar. I'll have to see if I can locate that. And she has also posed nude, though not quite nude enough, in my opinion. But her bottom is brilliant, as they might say in the UK.

Both Manchester City and Manchester United lost over the weekend, Manchester City in the 92nd minute when they could have gone three points ahead. Chelsea, still eight back of the leaders, almost tied but got a late goal from Frank Lampard on an Ashley Cole cross. But Chelsea had previously lost 3-1 to Aston Villa. It's almost unheard of for the top teams in the Premier League to all lose in the same weekend.

Also, Peter Crouch (married to the wondrous Abbey) scored two for Stoke City.